The safety and risk analyst at FSA, Dr Jane Buys, told Farmer’s Weekly that in December 2022, a total of 724 sheep were stolen across 26 farming communities. This is while 919 heads of cattle were also reported stolen during this time.

The editor of the agricultural magazine, Janine Ryan, adds the modus operandi of the thieves was to cut farm fences and then to herd the animals to a central location, where they were either slaughtered or loaded onto vehicles to transport them to a different location.

Bethlehem, Bohtlokong, Cornelia, Ficksburg, Heilbron, Reitz and Zastron were identified as stock theft hot spots.

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Buys shares regular crime prevention operations by farmers and the high visibility of the South African Police Service (SAPS) during the festive season played an important role in ensuring a reduction in crime. The visibility of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) along the RSA/Lesotho border also yielded results.

Another news story in Farmer’s Weekly this week, looks at the declining numbers of sheep in South Africa’s sheep industry. Ryan says drought in some parts of the country, as well as lower prices and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, are to blame for the decline.

The managing director of the agricultural market analysis company, AMT, Johnny van der Merwe, says sheep prices are likely to remain low this year because of lower demand.

He states that the feeder lamb prices are 4% lower year-on-year in January, with the slaughter lamb price expected to remain lower until April. Van der Merwe says that although the improvement in production conditions was good news for farmers, it meant that the supply of animals to the market would rise, which would lead to lower selling prices.

This week’s edition also takes a look at a watershed ruling in late 2022 in which the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein stated that the government is responsible for veld fires that originate on state land.

Ryan explains that the government, therefore, must pay compensation for damage caused to neighbouring farms.

A macadamia farmer near Barberton in Mpumalanga, Koos Boshof, won his case against the government after ten years in court. This came after the fire, which originated on a neighbouring state-owned farm in 2012, destroyed six hectares of his macadamia trees.

According to Boshof, they had to fight many fires that started on neighbouring farms owned by the government.

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